The present invention relates to a tape winding apparatus, and more particularly to a tape winding apparatus which can wind a tape into a roll at high speeds while maintaining a precise and aligned winding profile.
It is desirable that a tape-like material such as a magnetic tape is wound into a roll with a precise and aligned winding profile. Recently, data is recorded on a magnetic tape having an extremely narrow track width. Therefore, if the tape edge is not aligned precisely when it is wound into a roll, there is a possibility that the magnetic head will not follow a predetermined track during the recording and/or reading of the data. Further, in a recent magnetic tape, a tracking servo signal is recorded on a recording layer during the manufacture of the magnetic tape. However, if the winding profile of the tape roll is not precisely aligned before recording the servo signal, the magnetic tape will shift in a direction of the tape width so that a precise recording of the servo signal cannot be performed. Moreover, if the winding profile of the magnetic tape is not aligned, the magnetic tape is partly subject to deformation and/or the tape edge is susceptible to damage. These are more likely to occur for a recent magnetic tape because the thickness of the magnetic tape becomes thinner.
The magnetic tape will be wound into a roll with a precise and aligned winding profile if the wind-up speed is reduced. However, in order to improve productivity at a production site or to improve data scan speed on a magnetic tape drive, it is desirable that the magnetic tape be wound up as fast as possible.
There is also a need to improve productivity of tape products other than magnetic tape.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 62-31645, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,119, discloses a magnetic tape wind-up system for winding up a magnetic tape into a roll shape at high speeds. In this conventional system, a push roller (i.e., edge control roller) is pressed against a tape roll that is a tape having been wound into a roll so that air between the tape roll and a magnetic tape to be wound around the tape roll is removed. This can improve preciseness and alignment of the winding profile. The push roller is supported on a swing arm, to which a position control roller is also provided to control a feed direction of the magnetic tape to the tape roll.
However, because the magnetic tape is wound around the push roller in the conventional magnetic tape wind-up system, the tensile force acting on the magnetic tape urges the push roller away from the tape roll. Therefore, as the wind-up speed is increased, a variation in the tensile force of the magnetic tape adversely affects the pressing force of the push roller, so that it becomes difficult to wind up the magnetic tape into a roll in a precise and aligned manner.
In view of the above, the present invention seeks to provide a tape winding apparatus which can wind a tape at high speeds in a precise and aligned manner while eliminating an adverse effect on the push roller due to variation in the tensile force of the tape.